First of all, I want to make a small introduction. I was living in France for the past few years before coming to Japan 3 weeks ago (I am not French). I was able to secure a room in a share house in Adachi, Tokyo, with Miyoshi Real Estate before coming, and I got the keys to my room as soon as I arrived. The contract is for 1 year, and I already paid for the first 3 months (so I have my room until November for now).
Everything was normal until this past Wednesday. The morning I secured my Japanese phone number, went to work, and returned late around 21:30 to be outraged: my room was set back to its initial state before I came in, with all my belongings gone. I came in panic to an acquaintance living in the same house to inform him, and he told me that today everyone heard noise from the 2 staff who were cleaning, and then when he looked at the trash, he found some belongings.
I then went to the trash box to find my clothes and food in the trash, my luggage (where I still put everything I’m not using) next to it. I then took back everything I could (basically everything except the food that was in the fridge), and I realized that some stuff that I had left on my desk was put in the luggage, and the luggage was searched or something. And then, I noticed that some 7-8 personal cards that I brought from France were lost (including my French residence card which expires in December, my Navigo transportation card, my health insurance card along with point cards and old university cards).
My friend on the other hand contacted the emergency contact, where he was told to call the police, and then the police came. I informed them of what happened, I looked forever for my lost cards but couldn’t find any. The police investigated the apartment and interrogated the other residents in the house, but couldn’t learn more than what I did. They did a report for my lost stuff and gave me this memo with the application number. The next day, they contacted the agency, but they told them that “they don’t know anything about that”. They checked the only camera at the front door of the house but said that they could only see 2 people from behind (couldn’t see their faces). Finally, they informed me that they would keep investigating, although it’s looking difficult to find my lost cards.
I also contacted my friend who’s been living in Japan for a few years now, he told me that it seems they were told to prepare a room for a new tenant but mistook the room. And they would definitely take any card with my name and photo on it, because these things should be disposed of and not simply get thrown in the trash. When I asked him like how come they didn’t bother to verify if they mistook the room seeing my stuff, he told me that people leaving things behind and never coming back is not rare here, there are many examples of vacant houses and stuff like that so that wouldn’t be surprising for them.
Now the reason I’m writing all of this: what can I possibly do? For the record, I am not really planning a return to France any time soon, and if I eventually return, I can make any necessary card to live there. I think I can inform France that I lost my stuff too, so I would not worry about someone else using them.
My worry is concerning what if this happens again? After all, apparently the agency itself nor anyone knows about what happened. And seriously, I didn’t even receive a single word like “sorry” from the owner of the house/agency whatever. I can’t just pretend like nothing happened and move on.
I will definitely move to a different apartment, but that was the plan anyway, maybe now I will move sooner but still. Is this insanity common here? Can I sue the agency or something? What do you guys think or recommend? Sorry for the long post but I felt like I need to go over all the details.
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31 comments
I can’t imagine it was thieves, because why would they put your stuff in the trash rather than leaving it in the room or stealing it. That only really leaves the agency’s cleaners, so I can’t believe the agency doesn’t know anything about it. Surely they should know if staff they employ were meant to prepare a room that day, even if the intended room wasn’t your room?
Maybe you need to go to the big police station and report the agency that their ppl stole your ID cards. So that the police could investigate them.
Thats messed up. I hope you’re able to sue them, this is absolutely unacceptable.
OP you must lawyer up. The building management company / agency completely fucked up here and they must reimburse you for damages.
How good is your Japanese? If you are not fluent enough to put the fear of god in them, get a native friend who is assertive to speak to them on your behalf, because they will deflect all responsibility for as long as they can.
Itemize all the missing things and assign a value to them, then take pictures of everything you can as evidence.
If the mistake is not corrected you can expect somebody to move in your room soon.
I’d definitely leave a bad review. They should compensate you for it too.
You should contact the French embassy about the stolen ID card asap.
I asked my Japanese landlord father about this.
Nothing will happen unless you get a lawyer.
They want to sweep it under the rug and pretend it didn’t happen.
I would suggest at least getting a consultation.
Agency fucked up. They owe you a lot of money.
Also example #1315152 of why sharehouses are trash.
Quickly go to 無料弁護士相談 run by the ward. It is a simple, free lawyer run by Adachi ward: [https://www.city.adachi.tokyo.jp/koe/kurashi/sodan/horitsu.html](https://www.city.adachi.tokyo.jp/koe/kurashi/sodan/horitsu.html)
They will guide you what to do.
Another thing you must do is to go to your embassy, they may help you. The least they can do is to call a management company. You might be surprised how powerful are embassy calls.
Also go yourself to the managing company and do not go away until you get a comprehensive answer on what to do and what they will do. Japanese locals would do that.
Also share it with HR in your company. They may give you a good advice.
The situation is absolutely outrageous and should be dealt with decisively. Forget bad reviews and other passive aggressive stuff.
1. Call the police. You’re going to have to do some legwork, because the koban and guys they send can’t, you’re going to have to make an appointment at one possibly more main stations, but keep at it till you get a report filed. What they did is absolutely illegal.
2. Contact the management company and demand compensation.
1. As other posters have said: you should report your ID and cards as stolen at the nearest police station (not at the police box). Whatever the true story is, the fact is that two people a) broke into your flat b) stole your belongings and those are serious crimes. (If the police investigate with the landlord then it will force the landlord to take this seriously).
2. You should urgently contact the agency (again). The agency might say they don’t know what’s going on… that’s not good enough and if this is the work of the landlord accidentally sending people to clear out the wrong room, the agency’s job is to sort that problem. So they need to urgently talk to the landlord.
3. Tokyo offers free legal consultations to foreign residents. Talk to a lawyer asap. If you speak Japanese, there are a much wider range of options for free legal consultations so have a search online. In the worst case scenario, one option may be to take the landlord to small claims court for damages to your property. This is a reasonably priced process and the lawyer can tell you what your options might be. https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/english/guide/guide01.html
You need to find out specifically who those two people are and where they work and talk to *them* about your cards.
No one else is going to have any idea: they don’t report this stuff to their employer, they don’t work for your building manager (they are subcontractors), they don’t actually keep these things (they are taken away and *then* disposed of, rather than kept anywhere).
Get your building manager to confess the name of the subcontracting company, if you can, and then get the subcontracting company on the line. Odds are, they will not be willing to put you in direct contact with their employees, but if you can get someone to make a heartfelt plea in *perfect* Japanese, they might let you ask them what happened to your cards.
PS: Move *fast*, the police will not do this for you and every day that goes by increases the chance that your cards are in a landfill.
Get a lawyer and move out of the share house asap.
Share houses in Japan targeted at foreigners are overpriced scams
Thank you guys for all the feedback. I will definitely check with the lawyers consultation, and see what I can do with the police too. I will definitely not let this slide like that.
Oh my gosh this would make me so furious! What an incredibly violating and unprofessional thing to do in the first place and the way your agency handled it, is downright shameful imo. Agree with everyone else here who says lawyer up. Sending you good vibes and hope that your stay from now on will be without any kind of these problems!
You can sue and demand compensation.
Don’t take this lightly. Even if they “mistook” something, that’s not an excuse. Serious mistake was done that resulted in presumably sizeable damage (incl. your lost time running up and down). Moreover, stealing IDs/bank cards can be a serious crime.
– Report the incident to your embassy. They can help you with re-issuing docs as welll as possibly assist you with translation, legal guidance, etc. You might also use this as an additional paper trail.
– Do the same with your company HR.
– Talk to your local police office. Not just to the koban folks. Call them often for updates.
– Remember: police are there to investigate potential criminal actions. You might have a civil case (not criminal) here too, read up on that.
– Keep track of all expenses you may incur. I would at least ask for the replacement cost of my entire wardrobe + IDs + cost of moving somewhere else and see where it goes before lawyering up.
– You can record calls in Japan without consent
– If you have someone translating for you, make sure they are also advocating for you. The pushiest friend you have might be the best candidate here.
– Hammer at it and try to move fast. The more you poke those bastards, the more chance you will have to uncover their bullshit.
And welcome to Japan, I guess. Trust me, your experience is in no shape or form normal so far 🙁
Note down everything while it’s still fresh in your memory.
What time you left and came back, what items you had, anything that had changed, the responses from people you have already spoken to. Get a lawyer asap.
Name and shame the management company
People already said it before me but it’s better to repeat it. Lawyer up! Find a good lawyer and sue the shit out of the company!
If you are expecting police to do anything about it well, it won’t happen.
The reason the owner is not apologizing to you is very likely that this could be construed as them admitting a mistake, and everyone is trying very hard not to move, because this could go to court (and should).
Case and point why share houses are for hobos.
Sorry this happened to you, but if you got a decent job just take a real apartment =/
Perhaps getting in touch with your embassy could help also.
OP good on you for immediately getting the police involved to leave a paper trail. This will be favorable in your claim.
Yea, get a lawyer and say your Rolex or Magic TCG Black Lotus collection was thrown out and start the reimbursement ask really high so they can get a fire under there ass.
S.U.E. Japan is very litigious and you’ll win. Don’t minimize damages on your mind, this is HORRIFYING.
Oh boy they’re going to PAY. That is an immense mistake, like a definite court case. If that was a Japanese family they’d be filing lawsuits.
I can see the management company blaming the sub-contracted cleaning company and vice versa so don’t bother with either of them, let the lawyer handle it.
Multiple flights to France to get all your documents are in order I think. Squeeze them for everything.
Sue these guys, they totally fuck up
They dun goofed.
Now, they have to pay reparations and apology money.
Raise a stink at the office.
If no immediate results, tell them you will consult with a lawyer.
If no sudden volte-face on reparation results, actually consult with a lawyer and have this lawyer send them a letter.
You’re about to be drowning in yennies from heaven ¥¥¥¥¥
As a French person who has recently moved back to France after spending 17 years in Japan, I will give you my opinion on the French cards that you lost.
Even if you don’t plan on going back to France, you should definitely do a lost declaration and assorted declarations to the secu. If you ever go back to France, getting a new carte vitale is going to be a fucking pain. If you have a numero de secu and a card and you need a new one, it’s could be a huge hassle especially if you need health insurance (and you’ll need it at some point). Maybe contact the embassy, they may be able to help you but you should be able to do a declaration de perte on your ameli account and maybe a notification of having left the country.
Navigo and the rest is probably not very important but carte vitale is well… vitale.
Think about it especially as you should be able to do most stuff through the Internet on your ameli account. It took me 3 months to get a new one, as a French citizen speaking native French. You may think you’ll never need it anymore but the point is you never know.
Get a lawyer and get a free consultation. Those workers represent the management, so they are liable. Do not expect them to do anything for you, they’re hoping as an immigrant you won’t know to do anything.
I think clearly you can get proof they’ve made a mistake. especially get it in writing. How much you’ll get compensated is probably not much.